The Alexander Henry, shown during its years as a museum in Kingston, is open for tours in Thunder Bay.

LAKEHEAD TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM SOCIETY

Duty on the Kaministiquia River in 1975.

Local Hero: Step aboard the retired Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Alexander Henry in Thunder Bay’s Marina Park and check out the view from the wheelhouse or explore the captain’s quarters. The museum just opened for tours July 18, about a year after the ship was towed from Kingston to Thunder Bay.

Built 60 years ago at Port Arthur Shipbuilding and commissioned in 1959, the ship ended its Coast Guard service on the Great Lakes in 1984. Every spring of its career as an icebreaker, it opened the Thunder Bay harbor for shipping. “It was a sure sign of spring for all of the residents of Thunder Bay, and they always looked forward to seeing the Alexander Henry,” says Charlie Brown of the Lakehead Transportation Museum Society. The group, along with the city of Thunder Bay, came up with the plan and money to save the Henry from being cut up for scrap after many years as a museum and bed-and-breakfast lodging in Kingston.

Inside the ship, rooms serve as mini museums. Besides the Henry, you’ll learn about Museum Society members, such as Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior and Buddies of the Brill, working to preserve the heritage of Brill trolley buses that were made and used in Thunder Bay. The goal: Tell Thunder Bay’s story as a transportation hub. One day, Charlie hopes to add waterfront displays of two restored Brill buses and the James Whalen tug that now sits in Kaministiquia River Heritage Park.

Alexander Henry Museum Ship

• Built in Thunder Bay at Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co., the vessel was launched in 1958 and commissioned the following year. It worked the Great Lakes for the Canadian Coast Guard as an icebreaker, buoy tender and lighthouse supply ship until 1984.

• The vessel is 64 metres (210 feet) long, with two engines that can produce 3,550 horsepower.